


Rebellion

by AmazingGraceless



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Andie’s learning to be a good person, F/M, She’s working on it, but she’s internalized some things from her parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28051914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazingGraceless/pseuds/AmazingGraceless
Summary: Any act of rebellion is to betray the Black family, Andromeda thinks.
Relationships: Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks
Kudos: 3





	Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> CW: There are allusions to abuse within the Black family although I tried to leave out any details and leave the nature of it up to the viewer. Andromeda also has some bigoted thought patterns.
> 
> The prompt was to write a betrayal of one’s family.

Any act of rebellion was a betrayal. Andromeda Black knew this ever since she was a small witch, listening to old family stories that promoted the power of witch-and-wizard-kind, barely taller than the top of her mother's boots.

To live in Grimmauld Place was to live in a dictatorship. The rules were strict, harsh, and arbitrary, according to the whims and quirks of those who were in charge— Andromeda's mother and father. There was a way for young pureblood witches to dress, act, and speak. To fall away from that was an act of rebellion, however small, and such things were not tolerated and were punished harshly.

Each of the Black sisters knew that and acted in their own ways. Narcissa was the perfect daughter for a family such as the Blacks and pretended not to notice the cruelty of their parents as much as the other two would. She was the perfect lady, poised and graceful and with her delicately-sculpted nose high up in the air. She always remembered her manners, kept her voice demure, and never spoke back or disagreed with their dictators. Bellatrix would never be delicate or dainty, but she instead focused on chasing the ideals that she could— power, academia, and their bigotry.

Andromeda had received the worst childhood of the three. She had learned some tricks from both of her sisters— she knew how to blend in, as Narcissa did. However, her way of blending was to make herself so small that no one would notice if she did stick out. Avoid the gaze of others, never speak unless spoken directly to. She might otherwise carry herself like the aristocrat a witch of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black was. But that was a part of camouflage and concealment. And that wasn't the only trick Andromeda had up her sleeve— like Bellatrix, she'd thrown herself into her studies at Hogwarts.

After all, it was the only thing that was even somewhat her nature that her parents approved of. For the virtue of a witch was cleverness, above all else. Yes, as Slytherins, that translated more into cunning and ambition, and those were the words that the Blacks used to describe the quality. But Andromeda did not suffer their delusions of grandeur and knew that the real word was cleverness. In their world, knowledge of spells and how to make potions was literally the source of their powers, but how you chose to apply them was the trick, the one that made the real difference between a good and a bad witch.

At least, that was what Andromeda's parents thought. As for her, she was starting to think that it was about more than that.

Perhaps it was the difference between a great witch and a mediocre one— good and bad came with far different ideas, a much more primeval and enduring conflict.

Ted Tonks, she'd decided, was one of the good ones. Yes, he knew how to Transfigure brilliantly and had the makings of a great alchemist. He got good marks and was one of the stars of the Dueling Club— he was clever, especially for a muggle-born.

 _You shouldn't think things like that_. Andromeda interrupted her own musings and shifted her position from where she leaned against the wall, in the shadows between the two glass windows. The snow had caused the light top reflect off it and make the areas it illuminated so much more brilliant. The students sitting on the bench directly across from the window seemed to have halos around them from the snow-enhanced light.

It was a concept Ted had mentioned in one of the Potions classes the Hufflepuffs shared with the Slytherins. She didn't remember the context, but it had still stuck with her, this muggle science.

He was there, of course. It was all Hufflepuffs crowded on the bench, smiling and laughing and together in a way the Slytherins never were. They were warm, friendly— they were family. Not cold strangers, all allied together for reasons only as thick as blood.

But it was the light that had caught her attention— in more ways than one.

All Andromeda had to do was take one step, and she'd propel herself out of the shadows into the light. She gently pointed the toe of her boot at the light cast on the floor, as if she could kick it.

She knew some things about her earliest education were wrong. The way she was punished for every slight deviation was enough to let her see that with her own eyes. She had always been far too curious and far too different for her parents. But she'd been able to conceal that nature at Hogwarts. After all, it was easy there to be just a small witch, to keep her head down and her nose in a book.

But he had ruined everything.

It wasn't that she necessarily believed that muggles were dumb brutes, as per her parents. But for the longest time, she thought the muggle-born students to be rather thick— requiring so much information about everything. You had to hold their hands through every step of magic. She knew they didn't experience all of it in their mundane worlds before their Hogwarts letters, but come on, surely they knew Abracadabra or alacazam weren't real spells? Surely? And they made her uncomfortable, because they were worlds apart.

But then she'd been partnered with Ted by Professor Slughorn for this year in Potions Class. He'd been so friendly to her, bless him. Even as she tried to build a wall between them with her pureblood mannerisms and all the techniques she used to keep anyone from paying her much mind, he seemed to see right through her. He always had something interesting to say about the potions or magic they were learning— had insights that she'd never thought to explore before.

That was the word she would use to describe Ted Tonks, yes— he was insight personified, and he had caused her to see the light on so many issues.

She took a breath. To just talk to him, to accept the invitation to Hogsmeade he had sent through a note enchanted to fly like a bird was an act of rebellion and betrayal of everything her family stood for. This was a point of no return.

But it was time for her to stand in the light.


End file.
